Audubon Society to host birding tours, talk

The Highlands Plateau Audubon Society is offering birders a chance to stroll around the grounds of a private home on Mirror Lake in Highlands on July 7.

Also on tap will be a talk by Douglass Pratt, a curator with the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences, at 7 p.m., July 9, and a Saturday morning field trip around Highlands on July 14.

The Mirror Lake property has exceptionally active bird feeders and wildflower gardens geared for beginners. Audubon leaders will offer assistance and education in using binoculars, field guides and spotting birds in the field. Participants will meet in the Highlands Town Hall parking lot near the public restrooms at 7:30 a.m.

The program featuring Pratt will be held at the Highlands Civic Center on U.S. 64. Pratt has gained an international reputation as an authority on birds of the tropical Pacific Islands and has conducted museum expeditions to Fiji, Samoa and Micronesia, along with incidental visits to Hawaii.

The regular Saturday morning field trip will be led by Audubon guide Romney Bathurst and will include roadside birding along Rich Gap Road. The group will meet in the Highlands Town Hall parking lot near the public rest rooms at 7:30 a.m. to carpool.